Michigan Reflections: Summertime on Grandpa's farm

Apr. 12, 2014

A thresher blower / 1994 photo by Liz Raffaele

When the steam engine blew its whistle, I knew the “thrashers” were just minutes away! I can still see the huge tractor pulling the threshing machine down Beyer Road toward Grandpa’s farm in Frankenmuth. The big iron wheels made a crunching noise as they traveled the gravel road.

For many years, my family would spend summer vacation at Grandpa’s farm. My dad enjoyed going “back home” and helping with the harvest. And threshing wheat and oats were events that required a lot of help. Neighboring farmers would join hands in this German community and make the rounds. Each neighbor helped the next in bringing in the crops. When it was grandpa’s turn, as many as 12-15 neighbors showed up.

The grain sheaves were loaded on hay wagons pulled by horses and brought to the barnyard, where the bundles were fed into the threshing machine. The straw was blown on to a huge pile in the barn yard. Each farm had a huge straw stack after the threshing. I enjoyed riding the loaded wagon from the field into the barnyard. As I got older, I was allowed to drive the team of horses.

My mom and aunt and other farm wives busied themselves preparing dinner for the “thrashers,” as they were called. Food preparation began days before. Chicken, sausages, fried-down pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, homemade bread and pie were part of the menu.

Some years later, after the combine and baler were invented, the grain was harvested and baled in the field. No more threshing machines and straw stacks. No more whistles.